Movies - The Shoes of the Fisherman

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	Movies - The Shoes of the Fisherman

The Shoes of the Fisherman is a 1963 novel by Morris West, as well as a 1968 film based on the novel.

Plot

After twenty years in a Siberian labor camp, Kiril Pablovich Lakota, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Lvov, is set free. He is sent to Rome, where the ailing Pope makes him a Cardinal.

When the Pontiff dies, Lakota finds himself elected Pope. But as the new Pope, Kiril I, he is plagued by self-doubt, by his years in prison, and by the strange world he knows so little about.

The world is in a state of crisis - a famine in China is exacerbated by U.S. restrictions on Chinese trade and the ongoing Chinese-Soviet feud. Can he find a solution before it is too late?

A major secondary plot in the novel and the film is the Pope's relationship with a theologian and scientist, Father Telemond (Jean Telemond in the book, David Telemond in the film) who is clearly based on the controversial Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The pope becomes a close personal friend of Telemond. To his deep regret, in his official capacity, he must allow the Holy Office to censure Telemond for his heterodox views. To the Pope's deep grief, the shock of the censure combined with his chronic medical problems kills Father Telemond.

This work is a case where the movie story varies greatly from the written story - though, followers of author West find both versions satisfying and intriguing.

Cast

Anthony Quinn
.... Kiril Lakota
Laurence Olivier
.... Piotr Ilyich Kamenev
Oskar Werner
.... Fr. David Telemond
David Janssen
.... George Faber
Vittorio De Sica
.... Cardinal Rinaldi
Leo McKern
.... Cardinal Leone
John Gielgud
.... The Old Pope
Burt Kwouk
.... Peng
Arnoldo Foà .... Gelasio

The film was originally a project of the British director Anthony Asquith but he became ill and was replaced by Michael Anderson (Asquith died in 1968). Anderson's direction of the film is generally thought of by critics as dull and uninspiring, but under his direction, Anthony Quinn gives a fine, restrained performance as Pope Kiril Lakota. Laurence Olivier played the Russian premier (of some interest is the fact that had Asquith gone on to direct The Shoes of the Fisherman, he would have directed Olivier as a Russian for the third time in their careers: see Roger Lewis, The Real Life of Laurence Olivier , pp. 196-97). Other notable performances were given by Leo McKern and John Gielgud.

The Shoes of the Fisherman was one of President Nixon's favorite films; and it is interesting to speculate whether the geopolitical theme of the film (the Sino-Soviet conflict, US policy towards China) even remotely influenced Nixon's decision at the time to reach out to China. Nixon became the first president to visit China, in February 1972, and as a result, China came out of its isolation as other world leaders started to recognize the country.

In 1978 the conclave actually elected a cardinal from a Marxist country, John Paul II.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Shoes of the Fisherman ]

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